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Thaegan
Sorceress Thaegan was a servant of the Shadow Lord who controlled the north of Deltora during the Shadow Lord's reign. She was also responsible for creating Soldeen and the Lake of Tears, the guardian and hiding place of the Ruby, respectively. History Thaegan was born to a sorceress named Tamm toward the end of the reign of Queen Elspeth. Bored by her life, she fled into the mountains separating Deltora from the Shadowlands. Seven years later, Thaegan returned, significantly more powerful than before. At some point, Thaegan had thirteen monstrous "children", though it is unclear exactly how they came to be. Her children were Hot, Tot, Jin, Jod, Fie, Fly, Zan, Zod, Pik, Snik, Lun, Lod, and Ichabod, and the thirteen of them prowled the north of Deltora with their mother. Over a hundred years before the recovery of the Ruby, Thaegan transformed the city of D'Or into the repulsive, dangerous Lake of Tears. She transfigured all of the city's inhabitants into horrific, writing sea creatures and forced the city's leader, Nanion, to serve her in the form of an enormous sea serpent, Soldeen. The Ralad people spoke against Thaegan's cruelty, but the sorceress retaliated by robbing the Ralads and all of their descendants of their voices. A few years after the Shadow Lord's invasion of Deltora, Thaegan attacked and ate a nest of ravens. Only one member of the family, a newly-hatched bird named Kree, escaped. Kree flew to the Forests of Silence and met Jasmine, also recently orphaned by the Shadow Lord's forces, and told the young girl about Thaegan. At some point, an enormous bird deceived Thaegan to save a friend from death—presumably, this friend was another bird that Thaegan tried to eat—and in retaliation the sorceress bewitched the bird, transforming him into the Enigmatic Giant and forcing him to guard a bridge in her territory until truth and lies became one. Over the years, many individuals tried to kill Thaegan, but all failed and were killed. The Lake of Tears Jasmine fiercely opposed travelling through the north of Deltora because she knew that Thaegan ruled the area. The group encountered the Enigmatic Giant at his bridge, where he told them of his curse. The Giant based one of his riddles entirely around Thaegan and her children. Lief failed to correctly answer the riddle, as he did not know of Thaegan's fondness for eating live ravens, but managed to break Thaegan's curse on the Giant by making "truth and lies one." Jasmine later explained to Lief and Barda that she was concerned for Kree's safety more than her own, because of what Thaegan had done to his family, before sending the raven back to the Forests of Silence for his own safety. Jasmine also told her companions about D'Or, a beautiful city that Thaegan cursed. The trio were captured by two of Thaegan's children, Jin and Jod, but managed to slay the two with the help of Manus and Kree, the latter having returned to help Jasmine. Barda told Lief about the curse Thaegan had put on the Ralads before Manus led them to Raladin. The group feared that Thaegan would track them down, but she did not. Upon arriving in Raladin, the Ralads warned Lief, Barda, and Jasmine about the Lake of Tears and Soldeen. They also told the group that Thaegan was all but invincible due to her magic. Despite the Ralads' warnings, Manus led Lief, Barda, and Jasmine to the Lake of Tears, where they faced Soldeen. Soldeen was moved by Manus' music and the power of the Topaz, which cleared his mind enough for Lief to reason with him. He convinced Soldeen to give them the Ruby, but Thaegan appeared before they could get away. Thaegan blasted Soldeen with her magic and dragged Lief through the Lake. Barda and Jasmine tried and failed to attack the witch, only to be blown back by her magic. As Thaegan prepared to transform the group into more monstrosities for the Lake of Tears, Kree pecked the finger that the sorceress used to cast her magic—the only part of her that was unprotected—and drew blood. Thaegan shrieked in pain and rage before violently dissipating, the only remaining trace of her being a yellow stain on the rocks. Thaegan's death restored the voices of the Ralads, the city of D'Or, and the city's people. Nanion and Ethena, eternally grateful, presented the Ruby to Lief. City of Rats unnoticed by the Shadow Lord and were cautious as they left the Ralad territory. They were attacked by Thaegan's remaining eleven children, but tricked them into fighting each other. They fled from Ichabod, the only survivor of the infighting, and eventually escaped into the Plains, finally exiting Thaegan's territory. Return to Del The last of Thaegan’s children, Ichabod, attacked the assembly of the seven tribes of Deltora and kidnapped Dain, the apparent heir to the Belt of Deltora. Ichabod remained in Del until Lief donned the completed Belt of Deltora and banished the Shadow Lord from the land. Ichabod was killed by the power of the Belt, effectively ending the last trace of Thaegan’s influence in Deltora. Personality Jasmine described Thaegan on multiple occasions as a monster, a title that Thaegan typically lived up to. She ruled the north of Deltora with an iron fist, tormenting its people however she pleased and destroying any beauty she found. Thaegan's extreme cruelty was not the result of the Shadow Lord’s influence as with most of the other antagonists in the series and she was a largely independent entity. She openly detested anything joyous, beautiful, or free and took every opportunity to stamp out such things during her reign. Thaegan had a particular hatred of birds, because of their ability to soar freely through the sky. Her hatred of birds can be traced back to her negative relationship with her mother, who could turn into a blackbird. Live ravens were Thaegan's favorite food, another spiteful reference to her mother. Thaegan was offended by the thought of her curses being undone and insubordination by her minions and considered the deaths of Jin and Jod a personal insult. She took great pleasure in lording above her foes and demeaning those she was stronger than. Thaegan's curses were usually specifically designed to torment her victims in a personal way, such as binding a proud, free bird to one spot on the ground, robbing the musical Ralads of their voices, or turning the beautiful D’Or into a repulsive lake. Abilities Thaegan was arguably the Shadow Lord’s most effective and powerful servant, and he trusted her with control over a significant section of Deltora before her death. She was a sorceress and, though her magic was not on par with that of the Shadow Lord, she was exceptionally powerful in her own right. In addition, she was not constrained to the Shadowlands like her master and could deal with matters in Deltora more directly than the Shadow Lord. Thaegan displayed the ability to teleport throughout her territory, telekinetically hurl people through the air, and levitate. Jasmine suggested that the Shadow Lord strengthened Thaegan's magic with his own. Thaegan was infamous for her curses. Her curses varied wildly in their strength and effects, but seemed to be limited only by the sorceress' imagination and cruelty. Most notably, she struck the Ralad people and all of their children with muteness, bewitched the Enigmatic Giant, transformed the city of D'Or into the Lake of Tears, and turned the people of D'Or into horrific sea creatures. While the Giant's curse was undone by Lief, the spells on the Ralads and D’Or were only undone by Thaegan's death. Thaegan apparently did not age, as she lived for well over a hundred years. She magically protected her entire body from harm with one exception; the tip of her left little finger, the finger she used to cast her spells. This was her one weakness, as a sorceress can be destroyed if even a single drop of their blood is spilled, as was Thaegan's fate. Category:Antagonists Category:Deltora Quest characters Category:Witches Category:Females